FAQs
WHY IS THERE A 20% SERVICE CHARGE?
SHORT ANSWER:
We add a 20% service charge to all bills to pay a higher hourly wage to our hourly team. The 20% allows us to create equality and stability in our industry. Our goal is to ensure fair, equitable wages and benefits for our hourly team members.
LONG ANSWER:
We believe the traditional restaurant compensation model is broken. It fails to provide the kind of stability and equality of pay that restaurant team members deserve. We feel compelled to offer a different business model to our employees, our community, and the industry as a whole; one that ensures people in our industry receive fair and equitable wages and benefits in a transparent way.
There is currently a deep pay disparity between those working behind the scenes, in kitchens and dish rooms, and our front-of-house service staff, despite both teams being essential to the guest experience and the business. This is largely a product of the common restaurant structure in the U.S.—a broken system that’s built on a low-overhead model, consisting of minimum wage kitchen employees and well-below minimum wage service staff. These employees are subject to the customary American tipping system that data has shown suffers from bias, sexism and discrimination.
At our restaurants we charge a 20% service charge so we can use the average gratuity left by guests to pay people our entire hourly team a higher hourly rate. We believe good wages and an open dialogue leads to a stronger, happier team, and ultimately, a better experience for you as a guest.
Any additional gratuity left is distributed among all hourly members in the dining room and kitchen, who help create your dining experience. Our managers never receive any portion of the tips left for the hourly team.
We are not the first to employ this model. We want to credit The Duck & The Peach Restaurant for their inspiring and courageous leadership of this sensitive subject.